Kolkata: Chinese man held for wife, dad’s murders

Accused Li Wan Tho being produced in court for the murder of his wife, Lee Han Mai, and father Li Ka Song

KOLKATA: Ten hours after Chinese homemaker Lee Han Mai (62) and her father-in-law Li Ka Song (89) were found murdered in their home in Chinatown on Friday evening, Mai’s husband, Li Wang Tho (66), was arrested for the killings on Friday. After battering the two with an aluminium bucket, Tho cleaned up, exited the house, bolted it in a manner that it appeared to be locked from inside and had dinner at a restaurant with neighbours to build his alibi, police said.

“New Tangra Line resident Tho was arrested after he confessed to killing his wife and father following an altercation on Friday. The accused had used a bucket to bludgeon the two,” JCP (crime) Muralidhar Sharma said on Saturday. Police claimed the relationship between Tho and Mai had soured over his alleged extramarital affair. “The couple had regular arguments. On Friday, too, they had a quarrel. In a fit of rage, Tho repeatedly hit his wife in the face with a bucket. Hearing Mai’s cries, when his father came out of his room, he was also attacked. Tho then quickly cleaned himself up but didn’t have time to wash the bucket, fearing her screams might have alerted the neighbours,” the officer said, adding the murder was committed between 6.28pm and 7.11pm. The time of death will be confimed in the post-mortem report. The house has two doors, a wooden one inside and a grille gate outside. As he slipped out, he shut the wooden door and then, locked the grille gate. From outside, both the doors looked locked from inside.

Tho then reportedly casually walked into a restaurant and had his dinner. On his way back, he even struck up a conversation with a neighbour. On reaching his home, he reportedly knocked on the door several times and then called Mai on her mobile, feigning innocence. He even brought a ladder to climb into the house, before alerting the neighbours, giving the impression that the doors were locked from within, said DC (ESD) Debasmita Das. Cops got suspicious when they did not find any sign of break-in or theft. “We knew it was an inside job. During questioning, Tho confessed to the crime,” police said. Bapi Dey, with whom Tho had chatted on his way home, lodged the murder case at Tangra police station.